Decadent chocolate everything squares

Tags

caramel, chocolate, coconut, nuts, oats, squares

These squares are little bites of sheer indulgence. They are incredibly easy to make and utterly delicious. They are chewy, chocolatey, caramely, coconuty layers of yumminess. You can tweak them to your hearts content. If you do not have coconut on hand, feel free to add oats, rice crispies, chocolate malt balls, M&M’s, muesli. Whatever you feel like. I used coconut, chopped hazelnuts, caramel bits and a few flaked almonds.

Ingredients:

125g / 8 tablespoons butter, melted
150g / 5oz digestive biscuits, crushed (I used petit beurre)
1 tin (400g / 14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/3 each of dark, milk and white)
2 1/2 cups chopped nuts, coconut, caramel bits, oats, M&M’s (can use 1 or all or a combo)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180C / 360F
Butter and flour a 20cm x 20cm / 9″ x 9″ non stick square baking dish
Mix the melted butter with the crushed biscuits
Press them down firmly into the pan
Pour half the condensed milk over the biscuit base
Add all the other ingredients, one layer at a time and press down
Top with the remaining condensed milk
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden
Cool in the pan then remove and cut into squares when completely cool
Store in refrigerator but bring to room temperature before eating
Freezes beautifully
Enjoy!

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Macadamia nut chocolate bars

Tags

bars, brownies, chestnut purée, chocolate, fiesta fridays, gluten free, nuts

These bars will taste even better if you prepare them the day before serving. Allow to cool completely in the dish then wrap in cling film and refrigerate overnight before cutting into squares. If you do not have macadamia nuts, feel free to use almonds or hazelnuts or a mix of nuts. Do make sure that you use the vanilla sweetened chestnut purée and not the unsweetened variety. To make these gluten free, simply use the gluten free Maïzena which is freely available in most stores nowadays.

Makes about 16 squares

Ingredients:

225 g / 8 oz dark chocolate
130 g / 8 tablespoons soft butter
450 g / 16 oz / 1 can chestnut purée, sweetened
3 eggs
1 heaped tablespoon corn starch (Maïzena)
100 g / 4 oz white chocolate
80 g / 2/3 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 150 C / 300 F
Butter a dish about 22 cm x 22 cm / 9″ x 9″
Melt 125 g / 5 oz of the dark chocolate in a bain-marie or over boiling water, remove from heat
Add the butter and stir to combine
Add the chestnut purée and mix well
Add the eggs one at a time
Add the corn starch
Mix thoroughly
Pour the mixture into the prepared dish
Place in the oven for 25 minutes
Meanwhile roughly chop the remaining dark chocolate, the white chocolate and the nuts
Remove from oven and scatter the chocolates and nuts over the top
Return to the oven for 20 to 25 minutes
Allow to cool completely then refrigerate for about 4 hours before cutting into squares
Keep refrigerated but remember to return to room temperature for about 30 minutes before eating
Enjoy!

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Carrot Cake – The must try recipe

Tags

carrot cake, carrots, mascarpone frosting, nuts, vegetarian

Why do I love this cake? Because it is so very easy to make and it is basically a great way to get some of your daily vegetable quota. You could add a small handful of coconut if you want for extra texture. It is amazingly moist, spiced just right and not too sweet and it will keep several days, although ours never lasts that long. The topping is not too sweet as I often find with cream cheese frosting, this one is light and the lemony yet creamy. Do give it a try. You will not regret it.

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

4 eggs
180 g / 6 oz light brown sugar
120 g / 4 oz / 1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon all spice
50 g / 1.7 oz butter, melted
125 g / 4.4 oz chopped almonds or hazelnuts
300 g / 11 oz carrots, grated
topping:
250 g / 8.8 oz / 1 cup mascarpone
25 g / 0.8 oz icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 360 F
Butter and flour a 20 cm / 8″ round springform baking tin
Whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy
Add the flour, baking powder salt and vanilla extract and mix well
Add the cinnamon, ginger and all spice
Pour in the melted and cooled butter
Add the chopped nuts and mix until all well blended
Add the grated carrots
Pour the mixture into the pan
Bake for  1h to 1h 15
Leave to cool before removing from the springform pan
topping:
Whisk together the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice
Ensure the cake is completely cool before icing it
Spread the topping on the cake with a spatula
Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving (but can be eaten right away if you cannot resist)
Enjoy!